LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Progress Made on Student-Privacy Measures
Safe in the House; Senate Could Act Next Week
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As Congress broke for a week-long Memorial Day break on Saturday, Kids in the Know and its allies can look back on a clear victory on Capitol Hill, but look ahead to a threat that remains when Congress returns next week.
Groups serving young people in schools – and schools themselves – escaped harm when the U.S. House of Representatives passed education legislation last week without considering a parental-consent amendment. But a similar measure is still alive in the Senate, demanding continued work to forestall action there.
Kids in the Know, its members, and allied groups have been lobbying hard since the beginning of the year to educate lawmakers on why these measures are unnecessary and unwarranted and would seriously hurt students and schools.
Success in the House
A year ago, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) succeeded in getting the House Education Committee to pass his bill requiring parental consent before students can provide information to outside groups. Now the top Democrat on the panel, he vowed to again attempt to attach it as an amendment to the education bill, the top priority of President Bush and Congress.
While Rep. Miller refrained from offering it when the committee passed the bill, he asked the House Rules Committee to make it one of the amendments that would be offered, during the full House debate. The Rules Committee said no. Consequently, a vote on this politically sensitive “privacy” measure was avoided, and opponents of these measures will not face the possibility of both houses of Congress having supported such a measure when House and Senate negotiators iron out the differences between their two versions of the education bill.
Senate Remains a Threat
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), however, continues to promote a similar measure. It is one of the amendments that the Senate could be forced to vote on next week.
It’s unclear whether he will be able to offer the provision. There are more than 100 amendments that have not been considered, and it is likely that the Senate will only vote on a dozen or so.
But if Sen. Dodd presents his amendment, Senator Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) intends to offer an alternative provision that would supersede Dodd’s measure. The Hutchinson amendment would require school districts to develop privacy policies and share them with parents. Most education-related activities would be exempt from the guideline development and notification requirement, so there should not be any adverse impact on activities of Kids in the Know members.
Kids in the Know had not advocated for a privacy guideline requirement because it is an unnecessary, intrusive, and costly federal mandate on local schools. But the Hutchinson alternative is preferable to the Dodd amendment and deserving of support.
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